I have never been interested in owning 4 million mouthpieces. I have good quality equipment, and my teachers have always encouraged me to figure out how to make them work. I remember an interview with Chris Botti where he talked about getting the same Horn and Mouthpiece as Miles Davis; "if Miles can do it, so can I" (paraphrased). I generally bought into this philosophy. I don't have a weakness for the magic mouthpiece, but I do have a weakness for the magic concept. Until very recently, I would pick up and drop concepts like they were elementary girlfriends. Masterclasses and lessons would have me voraciously taking notes, and I couldn't wait to try it out (just like buying a new mouthpiece but... less expensive).
Recently Dr. Rob Murray called me out on it, and we starting talking about habit building. It takes time! Don Greene says at least 3 weeks. Gabe and Vince Dimartino say it takes about 50 hours of exploring a concept before one begins to grasp it. Until this summer, I didn't truly take the time to develop concepts directly. Today marks day 21 of a 3 week challenge to develop a habit of working on my breath with the visualizer, and I did another three week challenge on courage earlier this summer (refer to Don Greene's Fight your Fear). Habit building is not easy for a concept hoard like me, but I'm determined to slow down a bit.
Time to keep exploring,
Adam C White
